# 2019 Veikkausliiga

The 2019 Veikkausliiga was the 89th season of top-tier football in Finland. Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi were the defending champions. KuPS won the title.

## New league format

Veikkausliiga adopted a new league format for the 2019 season. Each team played against each other twice in the regular season. After the regular season the top six teams advanced to the Championship Series which determines the champion and European tournament qualification places. The bottom six teams advanced to the Challenger Series. The best team from the Challenger Series plays in a tournament against the Championship Series' 4th, 5th, and 6th place teams. The winner from that plays in a final series against the 3rd best team from the Championship Series. The last UEFA Europa League qualification place goes to the winner of that final series.
The bottom team from the Challenger Series will relegate to the Ykkönen, and second to last team will play in a relegation play-off series against the 2nd best team from Ykkönen.

## Teams

Palloseura Kemi Kings were relegated to Ykkönen after finishing at the bottom of the 2018 season. Their place was taken by Ykkönen champions HIFK Fotboll.
Turun Palloseura as 11th-placed team lost their Veikkausliiga spot after losing to second-placed Ykkönen team Kokkolan Palloveikot in a relegation/promotion playoff.

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Location | Stadium | Turf | Capacity |
| FC Honka | Espoo | Tapiolan Urheilupuisto | Natural | 6,000 |
| Inter Turku | Turku | Veritas Stadion | Natural | 10,000 |
| FC Lahti | Lahti | Lahden Stadion | Natural | 15,000 |
| HIFK | Helsinki | Telia 5G -areena | Artificial | 10,770 |
| HJK | Helsinki | Telia 5G -areena | Artificial | 10,770 |
| IFK Mariehamn | Mariehamn | Wiklöf Holding Arena | Natural | 4,000 |
| Ilves | Tampere | Tammelan Stadion | Natural | 5,040 |
| KPV | Kokkola | Kokkolan Keskuskenttä | Natural | 2,000 |
| KuPS | Kuopio | Savon Sanomat Areena | Artificial | 5,000 |
| RoPS | Rovaniemi | Rovaniemen keskuskenttä | Artificial | 4,000 |
| SJK | Seinäjoki | OmaSP Stadion | Artificial | 6,000 |
| VPS | Vaasa | Elisa Stadion | Artificial | 6,000 |

## League table
### Regular season

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | KuPS (C) | 27 | 15 | 8 | 4 | 46 | 24 | +22 | 53 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round. |
| 2 | Inter Turku | 27 | 15 | 3 | 9 | 42 | 29 | +13 | 48 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round. |
| 3 | FC Honka (O) | 27 | 14 | 5 | 8 | 41 | 29 | +12 | 47 | Qualification for the national Europa League qualification final. |
| 4 | Ilves | 27 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 34 | 25 | +9 | 47 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round. |
| 5 | HJK | 27 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 33 | 29 | +4 | 37 | Qualification for the national Europa League qualification tournament. |
| 6 | IFK Mariehamn | 27 | 9 | 5 | 13 | 31 | 34 | −3 | 32 | Qualification for the national Europa League qualification tournament. |
| 7 | HIFK | 27 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 37 | 34 | +3 | 39 | Qualification for the national Europa League qualification tournament. |
| 8 | FC Lahti | 27 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 29 | 36 | −7 | 36 | Qualification for the national Europa League qualification tournament. |
| 9 | SJK | 27 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 29 | −11 | 30 | |
| 10 | RoPS | 27 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 23 | 35 | −12 | 30 | |
| 11 | KPV (R) | 27 | 7 | 4 | 16 | 32 | 47 | −15 | 25 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 12 | VPS (R) | 27 | 3 | 10 | 14 | 30 | 45 | −15 | 19 | Relegation to the Ykkönen |
* ↑ Teams played against each other twice (22 matches) after which the league split in two (top 6 and bottom 6 teams).
* ↑ Ilves qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2019 Finnish Cup

#### Results

| Home \ Away | HFK | HJK | HON | MAR | ILV | INT | KPV | KPS | LAH | RPS | SJK | VPS |
| HIFK | — | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| HJK | 1–1 | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| FC Honka | 3–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–3 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| IFK Mariehamn | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–2 | — | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 3–4 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Ilves | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 0–1 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| FC Inter | 3–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–3 | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| KPV | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–3 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| KuPS | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | — | 5–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 5–0 |
| FC Lahti | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–3 | — | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| RoPS | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| SJK | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 |
| VPS | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — |

### European competition

Five teams will play for a spot in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.

#### Bracket

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | | | | | | |
| HJK | HJK | HJK | 2(4) | | | | | | |
| HJK | HJK | HJK | 2(4) | 27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) | 27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) | 27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) | 27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) | | | | | |
| FC Lahti | FC Lahti | FC Lahti | 2(2) | 27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) | 27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) | 27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) | 27 October 2019 (2019-10-27) | | |
| FC Lahti | FC Lahti | FC Lahti | 2(2) | HJK | HJK | HJK | 1 | | |
| 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | | | | HJK | HJK | HJK | 1 | | |
| 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | 23 October 2019 (2019-10-23) | IFK Mariehamn | IFK Mariehamn | IFK Mariehamn | 2 | | |
| IFK Mariehamn | IFK Mariehamn | IFK Mariehamn | 0(4) | IFK Mariehamn | IFK Mariehamn | IFK Mariehamn | 2 | | |
| HIFK | HIFK | HIFK | 0(2) | | | | | | | | | | |
| HIFK | HIFK | HIFK | 0(2) | | | | | | | IFK Mariehamn | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| | | | | | | | | | | FC Honka | 2 | 1 | 3 |

#### Final stage

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| IFK Mariehamn | 1–3 | FC Honka | 1–2 | 0–1 |

### Relegation play-offs
## Season statistics
### Top scorers

Final standings
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Filip Valenčič | Inter Turku | 16 |
| 2 | Lauri Ala-Myllymäki | Ilves | 12 |
| 2 | Borjas Martín | Honka | 12 |
| 4 | Timo Furuholm | Inter Turku | 10 |
| 4 | Tiquinho | HIFK | 10 |
| 6 | Luís Henrique | HIFK | 8 |
| 6 | Denys Oliynyk | SJK | 8 |
| 6 | Lucas Rangel | KuPS | 8 |

## Awards
### Annual awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| Player of the Year | Filip Valenčič | Inter Turku |
| Goalkeeper of the Year | Mika Hilander | Ilves |
| Defender of the Year | Luis Carlos Murillo | KuPS |
| Midfielder of the Year | Petteri Pennanen | KuPS |
| Striker of the Year | Filip Valenčič | Inter Turku |
| Breakthrough of the Year | Jair | Ilves |
| Coach of the Year | Jonas Rantanen | HJK |

### Team of the Year

Team of the Year :
| Goalkeeper | Mika Hilander (Ilves) | Mika Hilander (Ilves) | Mika Hilander (Ilves) | Mika Hilander (Ilves) |
| Defence | Felipe Aspegren (Ilves) | Babacar Diallo (KuPS) | Baba Mensah (Ilves) | Luis Carlos Murillo (HJK) |
| Midfield | Niko Markkula (Inter Turku) | Ville Saxman (KuPS) | Lauri Ala-Myllymäki (Ilves) | Petteri Pennanen (KuPs) |
| Attack | Filip Valenčič (Inter Turku) | Borjas Martín (Honka) |